Glen Campbell rambles back to Anaheim

Glen Campbell still hadn't decided what kind of set he'll play at the Grove of Anaheim this Sunday when we talked a few days back, though it seemed pretty clear that he'll serve up plenty of classics from his catalog.

“It's not the same-old, same-old,” the 74-year-old legendary singer and guitarist says when we ask how much this show will differ from his appearance at the Grove in 2009. “But you gotta go with what brung you, as dad and them said.”

Which in Campbell's case includes a host of beloved country-pop songs, from “Wichita Lineman” to “Rhinestone Cowboy,” or “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” to “Gentle on My Mind.” Yet while those might be the songs the fans know best, in recent years the songs that brought Campbell notice include a handful of covers of modern rock tracks, and some of those should surface Sunday, too, he says.

Meet Glen Campbell, his 2008 album featured covers of tunes by bands and artists such as Green Day, Foo Fighters and Tom Petty, earning strong reviews for his first new recordings in a decade or so. It succeeded so well -- both critically and commercially, Campbell says -- that he's made a follow-up with the same producer, Julian Raymond, featuring mostly original songs written for him by songwriters such as Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers and Paul Westerberg of the Replacements.

“He gave me over 200 songs,” Campbell says of the way in which Raymond helped him pick material for the covers album. “And I just went down the road in my car and saw what I liked. Some of that old rock 'n' roll stuff was really good. It was just a lot of fun.”

Work on the new album is finished, Campbell tells us after hollering off the phone to his wife Kim to double-check its status. And while at that moment he couldn't remember all the artists and songs involved with it -- O.C. surf guitar legend Dick Dale was one that he did mention -- in an interview with Billboard earlier this year Raymond shared a few details: Its title track is “Ghost on the Canvas,” a Westerberg song, and other collaborators include Chris Isaak, Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices and members of the Dandy Warhols.

“It feels good,” Campbell says of the new album and the way in which younger musicians have asked to be part of it. “It's a very hip album, my wife says. I don't know what hip means, but mine hurts occasionally.”

That last groaner of a line might have fit nicely on The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, the TV variety show he hosted in the late '60s that helped make him a superstar, beaming him and a varied host of musical guests into millions of homes each week.

“It sure sold me a lot of albums,” Campbell says when we ask what he liked best about the show. “It was just awesome. I got to play songs that I really liked and I wanted to sing. Nobody was pushing me, and it just happened.

“I don't know what God's plan for me is, but I'll go with it all the way, I'll tell you that,” he says. “Because to get to do those kinds of songs? I've been so blessed.”

That thought prompts us to ask the kind of question many musicians try to avoid answer: Do you have a favorite song? And Campbell doesn't hesitate with his answer.

“‘Wichita Lineman' is totally, totally incredible,” he says. “(Songwriter Jimmy Webb) has got such good chord progressions, and then there's those lyrics. I'd listen to a lot of things in the car, and that one I had to pull over, I was afraid I would wreck my car, it's just that good.”

For a few minutes, the conversation rambles a little this way and that.

We talk about his career as one of the most in-demand studio guitarists of the early '60s before his solo career took off:

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